Edging devices (referred to herein as “edgers”) are used to define a specific boundary between a grass surface and a landscape surface such as gravel, brick, tile, rock, pavement and paving stones (hereinafter “pavers”). The edger provides a distinct border to prevent the movement or “creep” of the pavers after installation and which compromise the integrity of the landscape surface over time. For example, gaps between adjacent pavers, allows the ingress of water, ice, weeds, etc. that damage, structurally or aesthetically, the landscape surface.
Edgers are often flexible metallic or plastic strips that are installed on or partially under a ground surface to provide a vertical barrier that forms a boundary which constrains the pavers and provides a distinct border between other materials. For example, one simplistic prior art device employs u-shaped clips that straddle a vertical wall and are driven into the ground to hold the edger in place. The prior art edgers are simplistic, yet tend to move over time and can be dangerous to children and pets as they often possess a sharp upper edge.
Other prior art edgers address the stability issue by providing a plurality of footers, belts or other members that extend away from the vertical wall to provide increased rigidity to the vertical wall. Integral apertures or bosses may additionally be incorporated into the edger to receive a spike or nail to secure the edger. One drawback of these more rigid edgers is their increased stiffness, thereby rendering the edger difficult to use to define a non-linear boundary. Examples of various prior art edgers which one or more of these limitations may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,767,159, U.S. Pat. No. 6,409,421, U.S. Pat. No. 6,071,038 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,240,343, all of which are incorporated by reference herein.
Further, many prior art edgers do not interconnect securely to form a continuous edging surface, which makes the mate between two adjacent edgers susceptible to movement and detachment. Finally, without a secure method of quickly interconnecting two or more edgers, installation time and subsequent costs are increased, especially in commercial landscaping applications.